Team #785 Katie Avison and Boomerang
Team #785: Katie Avison and Boomerang
From: Portland, Oregon
Ages: 74 & 26
Combined Age: 100
Test: Training Level Test 3
Boomerang (Boo) is a Dutch Warmblood purchased by Katie Avison in 2001. She has resided at Kevin Freeman’s barn in Portland, Oregon, since. One morning, as a three-year-old, she showed her potential skill as a jumper, jumping out over a four-and-a-half-foot paddock fence. Katie and Boo then travelled up and down the West Coast competing in jumper classes under the careful eye of the recently deceased Olympian Kevin Freeman. An untimely injury to Boo’s pelvis curtailed her jumping career. The pair began competing in local dressage schooling shows and trail riding.
In 2016, Boo suddenly developed facial paralysis, which through the quick actions of the local vets and Oregon State University, were able to correct the problem by removing the ceratohyoid bone. Unfortunately, the right eye sustained severe corneal abrasion and infection resulting in the removal of the right eye. It was at that time we switched to a bitless bridle to avoid pressure in her mouth, and she is quite happy with the new tack.
Katie is married and she and her husband have one daughter. She started riding after finishing medical school and recently retired from a busy internal medicine practice in 2021 after 44 years. She has competed in eventing, hunter/jumpers, and dressage, and recently added polo lessons to her bucket list. Katie had two previous horses, both geldings and found training a mare a bit harder. “You ask politely, you don’t tell her what to do,” soon became her motto and the two look forward to their strolls through the neighborhood, bareback and bitless.
